Thinking about using pallets to make raised beds for vegetables. Daughter said that she used them at ground level for strawberries. Per discussion, daughter thought this year she would stack 2 or 3 pallets to make a raised bed.

Thinking this would be a back saver compared to picking strawberries at ground level.

Currently in the process of thinking through and planning a raised bed along the basement walk out at son's house. The walkout, starting at basement door is about 4 foot tall tapering down to around 2 feet tall on the outer end, about 15 feet long. Thinking a rock retaining wall. Construction cost would be minimal, free flat limestone rock. Expense would be fuel and our/my no cost labor.

Additional benefit would be that this raised garden could be used as additional temporary fire wood storage in late fall, winter. Fire wood is currently stored outside, some under cover, some exposed. Then moved inside to 1 to 1 1/2 cord storage.

Back to the pallet garden. The only problem I visualize is that the elevated pallet garden would require frequent watering to keep from drying out.

Having back problems, looking for ways to keep from stooping over for periods of time.

Don't know what they cost now, but many years ago Virginia and I bought 10 Earth boxes when they were first offered for sale to the public.---we had them sitting on single pallets on the ground! worked super, grow anything in them, even figs if so desired,-- in fall move them indoors til spring then set them back out! I don't grow figs but saw where somebody was using them for that!

Now!---as to height above ground and location???---where do you need/want them??---possibilities are un-limited ! ---- we had cabbage, broccoli ,watermelons, cantaloupe , sweet corn, (test only but grew some good corn) we had really good tomatoes and you can set heat loving veggies out in full sun and cool crops in the shade/partial shade!---They use a lot of water, but hold 4 or 5 gallons in the bottom and have a overflow hole to let excess water out!

the pallet garden would be kind of hard to weed,-- wouldn't it??---definitely need to water a lot! might set up sprinkler over them,---could even put it on a timer to automatic turn on and off at pre-deter times.---the higher the stack the more dirt needed and the more water needed!---Just thinking out loud here! LOL!!!---and tossing out some other options as well!Also I am not connected to the Earth box company,---just posting what we learned from using them, and we still have all 10 of them, so they last a long time! thanks; sonny

Eugene wrote:Thinking about using pallets to make raised beds for vegetables. Daughter said that she used them at ground level for strawberries.

Dumb ? Were you thinking of just using the pallets like cribbing to raise up a box made of boards, or actually filling the pallets with soil?

I've seen displays at local plant places lately where they put a plywood "back" on the bottom of the pallet, prop it up at a 45 -60 degree angle, fill it with dirt and plant flowers in the openings between the slats. Not sure what zone your in but certain kinds of strawberries would work well this way I would think. Might be a fun experiment if nothing else.

The top pallet of the stack would have landscape fabric tacked to the bottom and open ends, filled with potting or top soil.

Still thinking. Neighbor gets paid for hauling off dump truck loads of pallets from a local firm. The pallets are dumped into a pit and burnt. Some pallet loads contain plywood tops used to protect the merchandise. I get the pallets for nothing/free.

A pallet garden is something I will try for at least one growing season. I have pallets and landscaping fabric on hand. My out of pocket will be the top soil, seed and water. If it doesn't work out, the pallets go to the burn pile and the top soil gets spread out on the lawn.

Main reason I want to try a one or two pallet garden is that I just don't have the space for a larger garden.

something to think about is long term gardens and how much maintenance they take

we started building ''hugel beds'' on our little spreadthe concept comes from germany and is a win for us due to the mine rock here [little soil]once built there is little maintenance,holds water and increases the growing arealast year tomato plants did great with an abundance of tomatoesI still have to figure out some type of green house structure because our growing season is short

Eugene wrote:Planning on planting strawberries in the pallet garden when the plants arrive

Eugene,

Curious, what type of strawberries are you planting? Are your winters warm enough to carry plants over in a pallet set up or would you just plant annuals? Not sure if you are a picture poster but can you at least keep us updated as you go, I am very interested in how they work out.

brewzalot wrote:Curious, what type of strawberries are you planting? Are your winters warm enough to carry plants over in a pallet set up or would you just plant annuals?

Tristan is the strawberry I ordered.

Plan is to plant some or most of the Tristans' in containers and the remainder in the pallet. I have about 80 square feet of everbearing strawberries at son's house. Planning on taking runners from the everbearing strawberries and planting in the pallet.

On the ground, the everbearing strawberries overwinter well in this part of Missouri. As far as overwintering in an above ground pallet, don't know. This past winter was very mild. Only a couple of days where the ground was frozen down to 2 inches.

I wonder if putting something around the pallet stack in the winter to stop airflow under it, maybe thin plywood with Styrofoam backing for insulation might help them survive the winter. You can buy the fan fold Styrofoam like is used under siding pretty cheap.

John *.?-!.* cub owner wrote:I wonder if putting something around the pallet stack in the winter to stop airflow under it.

I have some landscape fabric that I have been thinking about tacking on the sides of the pallet stack to reduce the air flow under the pallets. Hadn't thought about the pallet soil freezing, but reducing evaporation by eliminating some of the air flow.

Daughter is planning on a visit end of March. I'll pick her brain and see what she thinks.